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He snorted. “Believe it or not, Eli, I do know how to watch out for myself,” he replied. “Speaking of which, I have the address of one of the hideouts. Are you interested?”
I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Are you kidding? Absolutely.”
“I’ll send you the pin,” Mav replied.
“I’ll check it out and let you know.”
“Be careful, Eli,” Mav parroted, and I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, yeah. Talk to you later.”
Iris glanced up as I hung up. “Who was that?”
“Mav. Maverick. We were friends when we were children. He’s ex-military now. He was helping me when I was trying to find the military facility.” I grimaced, but Iris simply nodded. “He’s the one who got the information on the Raven Brothers.”
“Ah,” Iris said. “So, what are you going to check out?”
I frowned at her. “You heard that?”
“You were sitting right over there,” she replied, raising a brow. “You weren’t that quiet. My wolf is weak, but she isn’t dead. I can still hear things.” A sly smile spread across her lips and I couldn’t help but chuckle, feeling a little foolish.
“Mav got the location of a potential hideout the Raven Brothers are using. He can’t go check it out, so he passed the information on to me.”
“Uh huh.” Iris leveled me with a knowing look and raised a brow. “And you’re just going to scamper off and check it out?”
I frowned. “Yes,” I said, feeling a little defensive. “I don’t think we can afford to pass that by, especially if they’re getting agitated. We need to stay a step ahead.”
Iris sighed heavily. “You aren’t going alone,” she said a moment later. “You know that’s exactly how I ended up in thatfacility.At least take Remus with you.”
I gave a short nod, unable to argue with that logic. I trusted Maverick, but that didn’t mean his sources were being honest withhim. “I’ll call Remus. I can’t imagine he’d want to let this linger in his territory, anyway.”
“Good.” Iris pressed her lips together. I could tell she didn’t like the idea of staying behind, but I was glad she wasn’t pushing the issue. That was not an argument I wanted to have. “I’ll stay here with Bella. You better not do anything stupid, Eli. These guys aren’t playing around.”
“I know,” I replied, thinking of the days Iris had been missing — how it had felt like an entire lifetime. “Believe me, I know.”
19
IRIS
Remus’ Safe House
Travis County, Texas
Eli and I worked for most of the day, pausing around lunchtime when Bella and Nic came back inside. She must have had a good time in the backyard; there was a brightness to her I hadn’t seen before. There was also a bit more energy in her movements as she wolfed down the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I made for her before getting back to her feet and tugging on Nic’s sleeve, clearly urging him to eat faster so they could go back outside. I might have been concerned, but Nic looked like he was genuinely enjoying spending time with Bella. They were back inside an hour later, Bella finally looking drowsy and sated.
“Nap time?” I asked as she wandered over, arms extended for her toy. I picked him up off the table and handed him back over, smiling as Bella gave the plushie a tight squeeze.
“Yes,” Nic rumbled, steering Bella towards the stairs. “At least for a little while.”
We got some more work done while Bella slept, and by the time she was awake, Nic and Eli were packing up to meet Remus and some others before heading over to the hideout Mav had mentioned earlier. I was trying my best not to let my anxiety build, aware that Bella could likely sense it even if she wasn’t speaking to us yet.
Seeing that Nic was busy, she came over to where I was sitting on the couch with my laptop, putting a hand on my knee. When I looked up to meet her gaze, she immediately turned to look at the back door. Clearly, she wanted to go back outside. I gave her a small smile and shook my head. “We’re not going to go outside just now,” I told her, folding the screen down. “Eli and Nic have to go out, so we’re going to stay in, okay?”
I paused for a moment.Hm. Should I refer to them as Mr. Eli and Mr. Nic? I guess I should have asked. I can’t remember how I referred to my parents’ friends when I was that young. It’s not like they had people over that often.
I shook off the thought. “Do you like to cook, Bella?”
She looked at me for a moment, eventually shrugging her shoulders. If we were right about her age, and Dr. Hayes was right about how long she’d been in the facility, it was distinctly possible she was too young to really do much in the kitchen with her mother before she’d been captured. I had some fond memories of “helping” my mother bake, but I’d been at least six or seven when she had me rolling out dough.
